Invites Kick Off Turkey Day Week

BOULDER, Colorado, November 20. COLLEGES across the nation kicked off their Thanksgiving breaks with a plethora of speedy swims. Here's a look at highlights from this weekend's major invites.

The University of California San Diego hosted the Arena Invite in Long Beach, where the California women and Stanford men claimed the team titles.

Caitlin Leverenz was on fire for the Golden Bear women, racing to wins and NCAA A-cut times in the 200 IM (1:55.66) and 200 breast (2:09.23). Leverenz missed an A-cut in the 400 IM by just two one-hundredths of a second, touching in 4:05.67 for the win.

Meanwhile, freshman David Nolan led the Cardinal men with three individual wins. Nolan's victories came in the 200 IM (1:44.69), 100 fly (47.04) and 200 back (1:42.05), all NCAA B-cuts.

The Texas A&M women and Louisville men earned team victories at the Tennessee Invite in Knoxville, with plenty of eye-popping swims at the meet.

Texas A&M sophomore Breeja Larson annihilated the competition and soared to two NCAA A-cuts in the breaststrokes, posting scintillating times of 58.68 in the 100 breast and 2:07.06 in the 200 breast.

Pedro Oliveira led the Louisville men to victory with two wins to his credit. He posted times of 1:45.46 in the 200 back and 1:47.01 in the 200 fly.

Louisville teammates Carlos Almeida (1:58.45), Addison Bray (1:58.71) and Kameron Chastain (1:59.41) also led a sweep of the 200 breast to boost the Cardinal men.

Georgia Tech hosted a three-day invite in Atlanta, where the Florida women and Virginia Tech men emerged victorious.

Florida State's Mateo De Angulo had a whale of a meet, winning four individual events and posting NCAA A-cuts in two events. De Angulo's wins came in the 500 free (4:15.43, A-cut), 400 IM (3:47.23), 200 free (1:37.36) and 1650 free (14:49.94, A-cut).

Elizabeth Beisel gave the Gator women two wins, touching in 4:07.88 in the 400 IM and 1:55.57 in the 200 back.